Laurium launches its first active global equity fund

BY KIM ZIETSMAN Head: Business Development and Marketing, Laurium Capital

Laurium has been investing in global markets for many years as a key component of our multi-asset franchise, with Murray Winckler leading the team on global strategy, given his previous experience as head of global markets (equity and debt) at Deutsche Bank. This has been done mostly through active asset allocation to passive indices, with the team focussed on stock picking in South Africa and the rest of Africa.

As global allocations become an increasingly large part of multi-asset funds in South Africa, it is important to develop a dedicated global capability. Major shifts in the global research environment have provided a boost to smaller teams in South Africa analysing the global equity universe.

From a macro perspective, there has been a globalisation of industry trends, boosted by technology and knowledge transfer, and we have seen increased global capital flows and market (and sector) correlations. There is a greater access to information through the formalisation of investor relations roles at listed companies, improved comparability of financial reporting standards, and raw data availability with vast computing power and resources (Bloomberg etc) that allows improved quantitative screening.

The Laurium team combines this strong base of information with deep industry knowledge and economic understanding to seek out the best investment opportunities. The investment process identifies companies with a greater ‘growth and quality’ bias than the SA local equity selection process.

Laurium Global Active Equity Fund

The section 65 Laurium approved Global Active Equity Fund is an actively managed, concentrated portfolio of 20-25 global shares that aims to outperform the MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI) over the long term. Portfolio construction is not constrained by reference to either geography or benchmark. Position size is based purely on the combination of the expected return from each position and the degree of confidence and conviction gained from the investment research process. Laurium’s modest base of assets allows the manager to include special situations and shorter-term trade ideas without compromising the core long-term focus of the fund.

About the Portfolio Manager – Rob Oellermann

The Laurium Global Active Equity Fund is managed by Rob, with support from the rest of the combined Laurium team. Rob began managing international equities in 2000 as part of Coronation’s initial foray into offshore markets. Over his career, Rob has more than seven years of experience investing in global equities. He was a founding member of Tantalum Capital where he was CIO. Laurium acquired Tantalum Capital in December 2020. The Tantalum team, led by Rob Oellermann, had been building its global equity capability, which complements Laurium’s efforts in this area.